Broncos' Sean Payton on franchise QB: 'I think we've found it'

Sean Payton calls it "re-entry."

It's the adjustment period of transitioning from the daily grind of an NFL season to a normal schedule. That period began this week for Denver's head coach following the Broncos' season-ending 31-7 loss at Buffalo in the wild-card round of the playoffs.

"Obviously it's always difficult. It's hard because there's something addicting to preparing each week, especially when you get into the postseason," Payton said on Wednesday. "So we'll go through the next, call it the next 2 1/2 weeks where we'll evaluate our team, which I think is very important (for) our staff. Then eventually move on to free agency and the league schedule."

There will be a distinct difference when the Broncos embark on that evaluation process this offseason.

Instead of an impending -- and messy -- divorce with his quarterback, Payton is now confident he has identified his signal-caller of the future. After deciding to eat an $85 million cap hit and informing Russell Wilson of his imminent release last March, Payton and general manager George Paton used the No. 12 overall pick on Bo Nix the following month.

Nix went on to start all 17 games as a rookie, rebounding from an 0-2 start to lead the Broncos to a 10-7 record and a playoff berth. He completed 66.3 percent of his passes while throwing for 3,775 yards and 29 touchdowns against 12 interceptions.

Payton saw enough on and off the field to convince him that Nix is the franchise quarterback he has been seeking since his years with Drew Brees at the helm in New Orleans.

"I think there were a lot of things to be encouraged about," Payton said of Nix's rookie season. "His movement skills, some of the things, maybe, that we didn't even see or forecast coming. His decision-making. He's extremely accurate. I've said this before -- he's hard to sack. That's a good trait to have in our league.

"Then there are things that he's going to look at and grow from and build on, whether it's third-down snaps, whether it's pressure snaps. I'm really encouraged, and I'm glad that he's with us and that it worked out the way it did.

"I know this: He's very conscientious. He comes in. He spends a lot of time here. He was here in my office for half an hour yesterday. I think it's all in front of him. I think we've found that player that can lead us and be what we need relative to having the success we're used to having. I think we've found it."

The Broncos finished third in the AFC West and earned the seventh seed in the conference. That pitted them against the No. 2-seeded Bills in the wild-card round. Despite the final score, the game was 10-7 entering the third quarter before Buffalo steadily imposed its will.

Denver will now watch Buffalo, top-seeded Kansas City, No. 3 Baltimore and No. 5 Houston -- all division winners -- battle it out for a trip to the Super Bowl. Even so, Payton is confident the Broncos took a major step toward closing the distance to the AFC's elite this season.

"I'm telling you what, I didn't see a gap last weekend until the second half. Then you see a gap because you're losing, but I felt really confident we could go in there and play well and win," Payton said. "We obviously didn't play well enough. Those lines are much finer than we think. I use that term, 'There's a fine line between a groove and a rut.' It's a player, it's two players, it's the line of scrimmage, it's the kicking game.

"We're not looking backwards. We're looking ahead, and it starts with the division. There was a lot of confidence in this team that if we could get past that game, the next game we had to play, we felt real good about.

"Obviously, we're still not there yet, and yet we're a lot closer than we were at this time (at the end of the 2023 season). That was misery, sorrow, drudgery -- give me some other adjectives there. That was brutal. Let's say that."